


God and All His Angels

by Jwash



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: AU where more or less everyone is alive, Chloe Price: Relationship Advice, Contains scenes of a religious nature, F/F, Fluff, marshfield
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 19:49:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5140391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jwash/pseuds/Jwash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At 7pm on Wednesdays, Kate Marsh has decided to run a bible study class. She has a bad feeling no one will turn up.</p><p>Max Caulfield has a bad feeling no one is going to turn up to Kate's bible study class. She can't let that happen, not to Kate, so she will go, even if no one else will. She may end up learning more than she bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. After Class

Kate Marsh sat by herself, watching the clock tick by. 7:02pm, two minutes into her bible study group, held in the photography classroom as all the hand-made flyers had said. She sighed and glanced around the circle of empty chairs.

She may have been naïve at times, but she wasn't an idiot. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst had been her motto, so she had arrived half an hour early to put the chairs out in a neat circle in preparation for no one in particular, and had then read her notes knowing no one would hear them. She cast an eye over them now; _God as lover and beloved – Jesus' self-sacrifice, unconditional/reciprocated – Faith & Faithfulness (2Tim.2:2-13)_. Nothing too hard to swallow, she hoped. No one her age at Blackwell wanted to hear about the duties of the faithful and God as spurned lover.

She checked the clock again. Still 7:02pm.

Of course, she knew no one would show up. Even those members of the student body who considered themselves religious wouldn't go to a bible study group. Religion for them belonged at home, with their parents and weird relatives.

But for Kate, she couldn't imagine not at least trying to establish a bible study group. Like her grandma said, you had to give people the option, even if they don't take it. Some things were worth doing for the sake of seeing them done.

She glanced up at the clock. 7:03pm. She'd leave it until quarter past, then head back to her dorm. She was just considering whether it was worth booking a room for the same time next week and trying again when the door swung open and in walked Max Caulfied.

“Hi,” she said, her voice soft as down feathers.

Max Caulfield of all people. Kate couldn't speak, struck dumb by the sheer impossibility of it all. The words _I didn't know you were a Christian_ rose at the back of her throat. Max's eyes flicked over the empty chairs.

“Um, take a seat,” said Kate, before Max could comment.

Max sat one chair away from Kate, laying her bag on the floor. Kate wanted nothing more than to have someone (God, anyone) to talk to, but she had no idea where to start. She looked from Max to her notes and back.

“I can, er, I can go,” said Max. “I didn't mean to make this awkward.”

Kate's heart leapt into her mouth. “Oh, no, no, no, it's fine, really. Sorry, I just wasn't expecting anyone.”

She shuffled her notes and took a deep breath. Start with the script, she thought.

“So, what brings you here?” she asked. “What's your interest in the bible?”

“Well...” Max paused. “I... I've never read it before. Not all the way through, I mean, I know bits. Love thy neighbour and that, but I've never really thought about it before. I guess I wanted to learn more?”

Kate beamed. She wanted to learn about the bible! _Be still my beating heart_ , she thought. “That's okay, today was going to mostly be an introduction anyway. Just to make sure everyone who came was on the same page.”

She let out a little chuckle at her own lame pun, and to her surprise Max smiled.

“So the first thing to realise, is that the bible isn't one book, but many,” Kate continued. “They are all interpretations of the truth, and all of them attest to God's love.”

Max looked blank for a second before her smile came back, a little thin and over-polite. Kate blushed and tried again.

“Wh-which is to say, God loves everyone unconditionally.”

Max nodded slowly, leafing through Kate's bible carefully, glancing over each page. Kate could feel a bud of anxiety rising in her chest. Deep breaths.

“I suppose that makes sense...” Max said, looking up.

“Yes. Jesus' death on the cross stands in for the salvation of our sins,” Kate went on, quickly. “If we accept God's word, and are purified by Baptism, then we confirm that sacrifice.”

“Yeah, right, yes. I know that,” said Max, and Kate momentarily worried that she had gone too far, too fast, but Max looked pensive. “I guess my question would be, if God loves us unconditionally, why he would let bad things happen to people. To his son, even.”

Of course, Kate thought, she should have expected that question. The question of evil was a thorny one, but one she had prepared for. 

“It's not a question of God letting anything happen. It's a question of free will. People can either be good, or evil, and it is up to them which they choose. If they do good, then they do God's work, whether or not they think of it as such. Like... Like when you talked me down from the roof.”

Kate stopped, immediately regretting her words. Max looked away and bit her lip. She had always been bashful about saving Kate's life, and never seemed to want to talk about it, and sure, Kate herself wasn't especially interested in talking about it much either, but if she couldn't talk to Max about it who else could she?

“I don't think I was there because God sent me,” Max said, quietly. “I was just so scared for you, Kate, I was trying to help.”

“But that's just it,” Kate said, smiling and trying to meet Max's eye. “It was God's will that put you on that rooftop to stop me.”

“I guess... but does that really matter?” Max said. “If people can do good things, does it matter why?”

Kate wanted a quick response, a swift theological retort, but she couldn't. Her mouth opened and shut, and Max grimaced in embarrassment.

“Sorry,” Max said. “I didn't mean it like that, I'm not questioning what you believe. I'm just saying that for me, it doesn't matter. I couldn't imagine not saving you.”

Kate took Max's hand and held it in hers. Max looked up in surprise, her eyes wide, her cheeks colouring red. “It's okay. You're a good person, no matter what you believe. I just want you to know what I believe, that Jesus' example gives me confidence that I can make a difference, and every day, I can be a better person. Not everyone can wake up a hero like you, Max. Some of us need a little extra push.”

Now it was Max's turn to be speechless. Once again, only the clock's tick broke the silence. Max's eyes drifted down to her hand, and Kate let go quickly. She brushed her hair behind her ear, glancing back down at her notes to avoid looking Max in the eye. Her heart beat at a mile a minute.

“S-so, um, is there anything else you wanted to talk about?” she said.

“Umm, about the bible or...?” said Max, her voice vague and distant. “No, no, I don't think so.”

“Okay then,” Kate said, drumming her fingers on her notepad. “So... same time next week?”

“Yeah, sure,” said Max.

“Okay!” Kate said, shoving her notepad back in her bag, her chair squealing on the lino floor as she stood up. “It's a... I'll see you there!”

Max nodded, rising to her feet slowly, her face still flushed. Kate felt a little guilty. Had she said something wrong? But Max gave her a smile, and her heart lifted. She waved her goodbye.

Kate Marsh walked back to her dorm, but she could have flown. She felt lighter than air. Not only had Max Caulfield come to her bible study class, not only had she been interested, but she'd promised to come next week as well! Her heart swelled at the thought of it. And she certainly had a lot to think about before next week. Something on the nature of God? Ineffability? Did it really matter whether Max believed or not? In terms of scripture yes, and to say otherwise was dangerously ecumenical, but the idea had a certain... frisson to it.

She suppressed the urge to skip as she walked, thinking of Max Caulfield's beautiful face, how soft her hand had been, the way she bit her lip. Her lips...

 

She stopped. What was that? Surely she appreciated Max as a someone to talk theology with, or at the very least someone to just _talk_ to, not someone she'd ever consider _kissing gently on the mouth, Max's hands holding her face ever so tenderly..._

Kate frowned, feeling her cheeks getting hot. It was probably nothing. She'd start taking notes for next week's study meeting when she got home. Maybe something from Mark, or perhaps John, something about good works and good deeds.

But she didn't. She lay in bed staring at the ceiling, wondering where Max was, what she was doing. She groaned and put on a Rosetta Tharpe record at full volume, and did her absolute best not to think about it.


	2. Love and Grace

At that moment, Max Caulfield was walking across the Blackwell Academy parking lot, under the early evening shade of trees showing the first spring buds. Her mind was preoccupied with Kate's bible study class, so preoccupied in fact, that it took something quite sudden to shake her.

“Yo! General Douglas MaxArthur!”

Max looked up in surprise to see Chloe Price waving at her, seated on the hood of her battered pickup.

“Hi, Chloe,” Max said, walking over.

Chloe hopped down, bouncing on her heels in excitement.

“Justin found an abandoned brick factory out in the woods. Wanna go explore?”

“Um, yeah, sure,” said Max, holding the strap of her bag tight. She walked over to the passenger door and climbed inside.

“Great!” Chloe babbled as she leaped into the driver's seat and fiddled with the key. “I wanna get there first in case there's any fire extinguishers left. You ever set off a fire extinguisher before?”

“No, not really,” Max said, slumping in her seat.

“You okay Max?” Chloe said, the truck's engine coughing into life.

“Yeah, yeah. I just went to a bible study group with Kate Marsh.”

Chloe winced as she guided the pickup out of Blackwell's car park. “Ouch. What brought that on? Your parents weren't religious, so it can't be Catholic guilt.”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Please tell me you're not thinking of going cuckoo for Christ,” Chloe said. “You know what I'm like with sinning. I'm lucky if I can get through the morning without coveting my neighbour's oxen.”

Max rolled her eyes, but couldn't quite suppress a smile. “Don't worry Chloe, I'm not becoming an Evangelist.”

“So what brought it on?”

Max sighed and waved a hand vaguely. “You know what Blackwell's like. Can you really picture Victoria Chase going to a bible study meeting? Or anyone else for that matter.”

“Hey, you went, didn't you?” Chloe said.

“Yeah. I had to go. Can you imagine if no one had turned up? Kate would be crushed.”

“So it was a pity thing?”

“No!” Max said, then, after a moment's thought, “Yes? Maybe? I don't know. I just feel so sorry for her. She's been through so much, and she just needs a... a friend she can rely on, someone she knows she can talk to.”

“I don't know if feigning a religious epiphany is gonna be the best way to let her know that.”

“I know, I know,” said Max. “But what else was I supposed to do?”

“Talk to her about it? Communication is an important part of a healthy relationship.”

Max faltered, missing the last step in the metaphorical flight of stairs. “You think I'm looking for a relationship with her?”

Chloe gave Max a sidelong look and grinned. “I didn't before...”

“Well, I'm not,” said Max. “I'm just worried about her is all.”

“Sure, sure.”

They drove in silence. The buildings outside thinned as they drove out of town and into the woods. Max fidgeted in her seat, and Chloe tried to keep a straight face.

“I'm not going to ask Kate Marsh out,” Max said, decisively.

Chloe nodded, biting her lips. “Mmhmm, mmhmm.”

“Look, I don't know what you're trying to imply, but I'm not.”

“Look, your crush on the Devil-Dodger is your business, Gospel of Max. I'm just here for your couples therapy.”

“Oh my god Chloe, you are impossible.”

“You've gone bright red, Max. You can't hide your secrets from me.”

Max hid her head in her hands, letting out a long groan.

“This is the worst thing you've ever done,” she said, without any real feeling.

“That's not true,” Chloe said, not taking her eyes off the road. “I made you eat an earthworm when we were seven.”

“Oh my god, you did! You dick!”

“In fairness, you totally bailed on it,” Chloe went on. “You ate like half then threw it back up.”

“I cannot believe we are still friends.”

“I'm too charming for my own good, that's my trouble,” Chloe said, with a sigh.

They drove on, spring sunlight slanting through the trees as the road wound up into the hills above the town.

“So are you going to ask her out?” Chloe said, at last.

“No,” said Max, her eyes fixed firmly on the glove box. “Not yet, anyway.”

“Why not? What are you waiting for?”

“I don't know. What if she doesn't feel the same way?”

(At this moment, about two miles away in Blackwell Academy Girls Dormitory Room no. 222, Kate Marsh is trying to read her bible to keep her mind from straying to thoughts of Max Caulfield. It is not working)

“Pfft, that's what cowards say to let themselves off the hook. Trust me, if you love someone, hell, even if you just like like them, you gotta tell them. Tell them you wanna spend time with them.”

Max looked up, and saw Chloe was staring intently into her eyes, a direct, piercing gaze of experience.

“Tell her, Max,” she said. “Tell her 'I wanna spend time with you, Kate Marsh'.”

“Chloe-”

”'I wanna spend time with you... in bed'.”

“Chloe-”

“In bed, Max.”

“Chloe, watch the road!”

The pickup swerved back on to the right side of the road, earning an angry honk from a red 1976 eighteen-wheeler Mack truck as it hurtled in the opposite direction. Chloe continued unperturbed.

“Look, Max, you can either tell her now, or you can tell yourself you'll tell her later, and then spend the rest of your life regretting not telling her. And trust me, that is without a doubt, the worst feeling in the world.”

Max sighed. Slowly, very slowly, she reached into her bag for her phone.

“Did Justin even say where this factory was?”

Chloe didn't respond immediately, but Max saw her face fall.

“You don't know where it is, do you?”

“Look, text Justin for directions while you're at it, okay?”

* * *  
_hi Kate_

(Kate jumps at the sound of her phone, and her heartbeat only speeds up when she sees who the message is from)

Hello Max

_want to meet before next week? Before the tea session._

Sure, that'd be great. Where were you thinking? And when?

_two whales? This sunday?_

I've never been. And I can't do Sunday

_dont worry, i've got directions. Saturday? Also how have you not been to two whales?_

Saturday I'm at the soup kitchen.

_tomorrow then? Noon?_

Sure, send me the directions.

 _Okay. See you there_  
* * *  
_Yo justin, where's this brick factory?_

W at u want?

_Chloe wants to know where this brick factory is_

t ex ts bak l8r. Busy.

_Okay. Thanks anyway._

np.  
* * *  
Max hesitated outside Two Whales, her hand poised over the doorhandle. Inside, Kate Marsh waited for her, along with a whole world of possibilities, and potential hearbreak, and that paralysed her with indecision. Yes, she could just rewind and everything would be as though it never happened, but she'd still know how Kate felt.

“'Scuse me sunshine, some of us wanna get lunch?”

A fisherman, still wearing his waders, stood at the foot of the steps, arms crossed.

“Oh! S-sorry,” said Max, opening the door for him and stepping inside.

He didn't acknowledge her, but strode straight for the counter, already mid-order. Max glanced around and saw Kate sat in a far booth. Two Whales was crammed full for the lunch rush, but Kate still managed to see Max and wave at her. Damn, no backing out now.

She smiled to cover her nerves and sat with Kate. There was already a cup of coffee waiting for her.

“Did you get me a cup of coffee already?” Max said. “How'd you know I take it black?”

“I didn't, I just guessed. Is it okay?”

Max had to suppress a chuckle. “It's fine, really. Thanks, Kate.”

Kate blushed and looked down, twisting her hands together. _Oh no_ , Max thought.

“So, uh, what's on the agenda for today?” Max said.

“Well, I was thinking about what you said, the other day,” Kate said, barely looking up. “About God.”

She bit her lip, as if building herself up for what she had to say.

“Maybe God isn't some man up on a cloud, throwing down grace and mercy,” she said, her eyes full of fire. “Maybe He is less tangible than that. Maybe he's more like something telling us, warning us to be better people, to help the sick, and the weak. To carry the burdens of others.”

She took a deep breath.

“Maybe, for you, God is just your name for your better nature.”

Max was silenced for a second. She didn't know what she'd expected, but this certainly wasn't it. She like an intruder on to Kate's personal thoughts, suddenly out of place, but she was telling her, after all. And it sounded... right. Kate took her silence for disapproval.

“Not that I'm saying I don't think He's real, I mean, I think... I think... I don't-”

“Kate, look, I'm not religious,” Max said, her words flooding out, “and I probably never will be. But, if I was, that's what I'd want to believe.”

Kate blushed and beamed. “Max... thank you,” She looked right into Max's eyes, and her heart skipped a beat. “You know, it'll never matter than you don't believe. You're the purest soul I ever met.”

Max blushed herself, the burst out laughing, reaching out and taking Kate's hand.

“You too, Kate. I love you.”

It took a moment for her brain to catch up to her mouth, but when it did, it panicked. Oh no, was all she could think. She'd imagined herself leading up to... not even a confession, but maybe some kind of subtle flirting, followed by a provisional _'See you same time next week'_ where she could actually tell her. Across from her, Kate's face was flushing deeper red, her small perfect mouth hanging open in shock.

“I-I like you too, Max,” she said, faltering, stumbling over her words, “as a fr- as a– as-.”

She picked up her notepad and bag, knocking the table as she stood. “Sorry, I have to go.”

“Kate, please,” Max said, standing too. “I didn't mean it like that.”

Kate looked hurt for a second.

“Or, I did, but...”

But I didn't mean to tell you, was all she could think to say. She took Kate's hand, which shook in hers.

“Please... Max... can we talk about this somewhere else?” Kate said, her voice barely more than a squeak. “Somewhere... private?”

Max glanced around, and a few heavyset trucker types turned innocently back to their bacon and beans as though they hadn't been eavesdropping. Joyce busily poured a cup of coffee no one had asked for.

“...Yeah, sure, lets,” Max said, letting go of Kate's hand.

Unsteadily, they both walked outside, and every eye in the diner most certainly didn't follow them. Arcadia traffic rolled past as they made their way down the street, without any destination in mind. Kate didn't speak for the longest time, and the silence nagged at Max, but she could hardly think. Was Kate doing this on purpose? Some kind of punishment? She is kinda hella religious, she might not be so happy that another girl likes her.

Past the waterfront road, they came to the boardwalk. The waves hushed gently up and down, and a breeze dusted their shoes with sand. More importantly, it was completely deserted.

“Did you mean it?” Kate said, her eyes still focused forward, out to sea.

Max turned, but her face was unreadable. Kate's mouth was set in a tight line, trembling a little. Max took a deep breath.

“Kate, of course I meant it. I'd never make something like that up. Like I said, I think you're brave as hell, funny, talented,” she said, letting a grin spread over her face. “At the very least, I definitely _like_ like you.”

Kate stopped in her tracks and hugged Max tight, almost knocking the poor diminutive hipster off her feet. Max staggered in surprise, her arms held out awkwardly, as she realised Kate was sobbing into her shoulder. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around her.

“Hey, it's okay,” Max said. “What's wrong?”

Kate pulled back, wiping her eyes and letting out a little cough that did its best to be a laugh.

“Nothing, Max. It's nothing, really.”

She sniffed and drew herself up to her full height and smiled. “I... I don't know how I feel about you. I like you. I admire you, Max. I can't stop thinking of you, and,” she dropped her voice, “I think you're really pretty.”

Kate's face had tinged to pink again as she avoided looking in Max's eyes. She ran a hand through her hair, catching on her bun.

“I mean, what would you call that?” she asked.

“A crush, maybe?” Max replied, then adding quickly, as Kate's face fell, “or maybe just really great friends?”

Kate sighed, and Max laid a hand on her arm, smiling reassuringly.

“Look, we can... we can figure it out, okay?” she said, stepping closer. “I know this must be kind of confusing, but... I'm here for you, Kate, whatever happens.”  
Kate nodded, smiled back, hesitated, and leaned in to peck Max on the lips. As first kisses go, it wasn't too bad. Their noses hardly mashed at all. Max gasped in surprise, but still slipped her arms around Kate, holding her close and kissing her right back.

“Oh gosh,” Kate said, her voice low and soft. “What am I going to tell my parents?”

Max smiled, stroking Kate's hair back, over her bun. “You don't have to tell them anything.”

Kate blushed and grinned. “No. I'll tell them Matthew 7: 1-2. _Do not judge, or you too will be judged_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments welcome, y'all!


End file.
